Changing the Conversations about Immigrant Students

As a graduate student working towards a master’s degree in education, I have read many research articles that describe the school experience for first and second generation immigrant students. As a fourth year secondary school teacher, I have also had many of those students in my classes and have spoken to my colleagues about them and the adversity those students face.

Although the majority of faculty members that I speak to are supportive and conscientious towards these students, I am frequently taken aback by the way some of my fellow teachers speak about this student population (specifically ELL students). Some teachers seem to have this mentality that recently immigrated students are somehow not their concern. These teachers see themselves as supportive towards what they consider a more typical looking American student, somehow ignorant to the fact that students of color make up the majority of the students in our district, and the nation. When teachers have this mentality they are more likely to give first and second generation immigrant students disciplinary actions, less likely to create meaningful relationships, and have lower expectations in regards to their academic ability. This causes these students to feel isolated, unwelcome, and not capable of achieving academic excellence.

Photo by Nitish Meena on Unsplash

The two main takeaways that many research articles report is that these students have higher levels of academic success when they have meaningful relationships with teachers and when the school culture is welcoming and accepting(Hassinger & Plourde, 2005; Suarez-Orozco, Gaytan, Bang, Pakes, O’Connor, & Rhodes, 2010). Many of the challenges that immigrant students face must be addressed at the national level, but all teachers can make small adjustments to their practice in order to be more supportive of these populations. Start a conversation with a student during lunch, create an activity or lesson that is culturally relevant, and maintain high expectations for ALL students. There is no language barrier accompanied with smiling politely and giving a friendly nod to students with limited English proficiency.

Next time you hear a colleague speak with a “not my student” mentality, question them about why they believe it is alright to support some children and not others. The implicit biases that statements like these stem from must be addressed and must be corrected. This is the only way to create a more welcoming school climate where all students have the opportunity to flourish and achieve their full potential.

References:

Hassinger, M., & Plourde, L. A. (2005). " Beating the odds": how bilingual Hispanic youth work through adversity to become high achieving students. Education, 126(2), 316-328.

Suárez-Orozco, C., Gaytán, F. X., Bang, H. J., Pakes, J., O'Connor, E., & Rhodes, J. (2010). Academic trajectories of newcomer immigrant youth. Developmental Psychology, 46(3),602.